Children get close look at various farm critters

Saturday

May 4, 2013 at 12:57 PMMay 4, 2013 at 1:02 PM

Luke Smucker

Pontiac Township High School FFA students have been holding a student-lead petting zoo and exhibition for their pets and science projects for the benefit of younger children the last 10 years. This year’s event fell on a rainy Friday, which didn’t wash out the enthusiasm of FFA members or the younger students attending.Senior FFA member Ali Bartle said she and her peers have been planning all aspects of the event, called Ag Extravaganza, for the past two months. Not only did they have to submit their project ideas to FFA advisers Parker Bane and Jesse Faber for consideration, but members also had to invite all the PTHS feeder schools to the event held Friday.“You have to see how many students they plan to bring because we are offering goody bags,” said Bartle. “ Every student is going to get four pieces of candy. Most of us weren’t raised on farms, so this presents a different opportunity and a different scene. Many of the students we invited don’t get many chances to see cows and chickens and stuff like that.”Bane explained that before anyone could bring something, they were required to detail what its educational purpose is for visitors. He said over the years, he has seen many students get creative with their ideas. “To me, you can’t put a price tag on their ability to take things in their own direction,” said Bane. “That also is a learning experience for them because they are used to coming in and us giving them ideas on things to do. It is a whole different ball game when they have to explain it to somebody else.”Bartle said the event is almost like an FFA science fair because some students had science fair projects, or things they made themselves, not just livestock to share.“A couple of our students built a remote control car and attached a solar panel to it so it can run off solar energy,” said Faber. “Every year, a few kids do science fair projects and for those that like it, it’s perfect. Two of them this year completely restored an old tornado siren.”Sophomores Matthew English and Kendall Gordon stood next to their science project, which involved acquiring an old tornado siren from the city of Lincoln that was not operational and restoring it to working condition.“We were really interested in fixing this up, we got it in February of 2012 and over the past year, we fixed the siren up. We like the old mechanical sirens because they really give you a sense of how the technology of today was sparked by the instruments and methods from the past.”Although the rain seemed to constantly come down, it didn’t dampen the spirits of those in attendance. Bartle said when she looked at the weather in the morning, she showed up to school with a “bring it on” attitude. “I mean, nothing is going to stop us,” said Bartle. “Even though it’s wet, everyone was under tents, so it’s not that big of a deal.”Both Bane and Faber agreed this event continued the FFA’s direction of taking the focus off of what people assume agriculture is, and showing them what it can be.“When you look around, there’s a lot more going on than the traditional farming aspect,” said Faber. “You can tell they like what they’re doing and to see the passion come out in the high school students, I think that’s something that’s special and I wish everybody got to see it.”